Nazi sentenced to read Jane Austen is f inally sent to jail
A NEO-NAZI told to read Jane Austen and William Shakespeare as part of a suspended prison sentence has had his punishment replaced with two years in jail.
Racist fanatic Ben John, 22, was sentenced last year and given the ‘unorthodox’ instruction to read the classics.
But the judge’s attempt to steer the former criminology and psychology student away from extremism was described as ‘unduly lenient’ by Solicitor General Alex Chalk QC at a Court of Appeal hearing yesterday.
In August John, from Lincoln, was found guilty of possessing the Anarchist’s Cookbook, a notorious guide to creating homemade weapons, explosives and illegal drugs, along with an array of pro-Nazi material.
Although John promised judge Timothy Spencer QC he would end his far-Right fanaticism, ‘within a week’ of his sentencing, he was viewing racist and Nazi material online, Mr Chalk said. ‘It does not bear thinking about if some of this ideology is put into practice,’ he added.
‘While there have not been any formal breaches of the SCPO [serious crime prevention order], the offender has continued to view online far-Right material. That began within a week.’
Mr Chalk said this included ‘liking’ Nazi-themed content ‘just five days after promising the judge he had put it behind him’.
During his earlier sentencing hearing at Leicester crown court, Judge Spencer concluded that the crime was ‘an act of teenage folly’ and John was told to read famous works, including Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, instead of farRight work.
He was given a five-year crime prevention order and the suspended sentence.
At a hearing this month to assess his progress, John told Judge Spencer: ‘I enjoyed Shakespeare more than I did Jane Austen but I still enjoyed Jane Austen by a degree.’
The Attorney General’s Office referred the sentence to the Court of Appeal after campaigners called the suspended term ‘pathetic’.
Mr Chalk successfully argued yesterday that he should have been more seriously punished, saying: ‘Overall, the sentence was too short and should not have been suscepti
‘The sentence was too short’
ble to be suspended.’ John was identified as a terror risk days after his 18th birthday and referred to Prevent, the Government’s counter-terrorism body.
In defence, Richard Wormald, QC, argued the Anarchist’s Cookbook was a ‘counter-culture publication’, part of a library which also included books on Marxism and baking.
The court was told that, during a prior spell in prison, John had ‘recognised the privilege of the outside world’ and therefore abandoned his far-Right leanings.
But appeal judge Lord Justice Holroyde, sitting with Mr Justice Lavender and Sir Nigel Davis, agreed the unusual sentence had been too lenient.
It was quashed and John was handed a new term of two years in prison and a third year on licence.
After the ruling, Mr Chalk, the Conservative MP for Cheltenham, said: ‘The Government is committed to confronting terrorism in all its forms, including from the extreme Right-wing.
‘We remain focused on disrupting the activities of the most dangerous extremists, supporting those who stand up to their hateful rhetoric, and protecting vulnerable people being drawn into terrorism.
‘I referred Ben John’s sentence to the Court of Appeal, and chose to personally present it, because I believed it to be unduly lenient. I am pleased that the Court of Appeal agreed and chose to increase his sentence today.’